‘A recalibration of time’: Dave St. Peter reflects on stepping back from Twins president role

It’s been an eventful week for the leadership of three of Minnesota’s pro sports franchises, all dealing with significant changes. We’ll summarize below.

Twins President Dave St. Peter has shifted to a strategic advisory role. Baseball operations chief Derek Falvey was promoted to president of baseball and business operations.

St. Peter, 57, said he’s been thinking about stepping away for a couple of years, long before the Pohlad family decided to put the Twins up for sale. It’s still unclear if the Twins will actually be sold. The club’s statement about St. Peter’s new role mentions the “sale exploration process,” a phrase St. Peter repeated in an interview with MinnPost. He offered no opinion about the likelihood of a sale. 

“I don’t know,” he said. “I know there’s a lot of interest in the team, but I don’t know. It’s too early in the process. I don’t know enough about it yet.”

The uncertainty leaves most Twins employees anxious. They’re grateful to the Pohlads for paying them full salary during the 2020 pandemic, avoiding the layoffs and furloughs most other clubs imposed. (The Twins also paid its minor leaguers $400 a week through the canceled pandemic season plus full benefits, including health insurance — a generous move most fans forgot about.) 

And while the succession plan installs well-liked baseball operations president Derek Falvey as the club’s top executive, there’s no guarantee a new owner will retain him or anyone else long-term. Privately, employees hope the Pohlad family members pushing for a sale back off, leaving executive chair Joe Pohlad to run the team.

St. Peter, who joined the Twins as an intern in 1990 and rose to club president in 2002, says he’s committed to the organization through 2025. Even in a reduced role, he has plenty to do. He’ll represent the Twins in sale discussions with prospective new owners; help the club navigate its television future with MLB; weigh in on legalizing sports betting (the Twins support it); and work with Hennepin County and the state legislature on repurposing the Target Field ballpark tax, which expires in 2030. Under one proposal, most future tax revenue would support county health care infrastructure, with a smaller amount dedicated to ballpark maintenance.      

“It’s kind of a recalibration of time,” St. Peter said. “I’ve only really known one pace at the Twins. I’m kind of all in, all the time, and there’s a 24/7/365 reality of this job.

“Now, could I have worked smarter vs. harder? Possibly. But part of this for me is taking a step back and doing it for me and my physical, spiritual and mental health. Not to suggest I’m burned out, but I think there comes a time where it’s important to do that. And the second part of that is recalibrating around what I want to do. I think there’s another chapter for me. I’m not quite sure what that is yet. I don’t have anything specific.”

As for Falvey, it will be interesting to see if he has any ideas to boost attendance. The Twins haven’t drawn more than 2 million in a season since 2019, pre-pandemic. Last year the Twins drew about 22,500 fewer fans to Target Field than 2023, even with games off local TV for three months. Comcast and Diamond Sports Group settled their dispute just in time for the Twins to go 12-27 from mid-August on to blow a playoff spot. That further irritated fans already angry with Pohlad for cutting payroll. 

Minnesota Frost opened training camp this week with a new general manager. 

“Frost” is the new nickname of the pro women’s hockey team formerly known as PWHL Minnesota, which won the inaugural league championship last spring. Nine days after winning the title, the league — which owns all the teams — fired general manager Natalie Darwitz, who put the roster together, hired staff and secured Xcel Energy Center as the game site. Darwitz reportedly lost a personality clash with Coach Ken Klee, who had the backing of captain Kendall Coyne Schofield and several key players.

Melissa Caruso, a Massachusetts native who worked 15 years in administration for the American Hockey League, succeeds Darwitz. The Frost opened training camp Thursday, three days after Darwitz, a three-time Olympic medalist, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. 

After the opening practice at Tria Rink in St. Paul, Caruso — shorter and quieter than Darwitz — and Klee, a 6-foot-1 former NHL defenseman, fielded questions from about 20 reporters. Minnesota opens the season Dec. 1.

“I just kind of came in with an open perspective, open mind, and I did my best to try to get to know everyone and get a read on the situation,” Caruso said. “Ken was very supportive off the hop, and I’m really appreciative of that. He worked hard to get me up to speed up to this point.” 

Klee addressed Darwitz’s dismissal briefly.

“In pro hockey, things happen,” he said. “Some unfortunate things, and some things out of our control. So we’re looking forward, excited to get the season going. … There was some stuff brought up, but again, I don’t think we need to worry about that or go into it. A lot of it was after the fact. We had an unbelievable locker room. We had an unbelievable group, unbelievable staff. If we didn’t have those things, we wouldn’t have won, to be honest with you.”

Given Caruso’s administrative background — she never played hockey — Klee expects to take a bigger role in player personnel. The club also hired three college and amateur scouts, including former Gopher and U.S. Olympian Dani Cameranesi Brodzinski in the Upper Midwest. Darwitz did much of the college scouting herself.

“It’s just working with Melissa,” Klee said. “More than anything, we’ll be working together and helping each other to create the best team we can together.”  

Multiple media reports suggested Coyne Schofield, whom Klee coached with the U.S. National team, urged league officials to remove Darwitz. Coyne Schofield held sway as the player who approached Billie Jean King and L.A. Dodgers owner Mark Walter about funding the league. In Coyne Schofield’s first comments addressing the matter, she termed the reports “false narratives” and said her teammates knew the truth.   

“It was difficult to see,” she said of Darwitz’s departure. “Decisions were made that were not the decisions that were made by us players. Those were league decisions. We’re here to play hockey and defend our title.” 

General manager Clair Duwelius and associate head coach Katie Smith have left the Lynx.

Connections matter. Lynx captain Naphessa Collier hired rising front office star Duwelius as GM and executive vice president of Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 league Collier co-founded with former UConn teammate Breanna Stewart. And Smith — the former Lynx great, Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and a Lynx coach since 2020 — returned to her alma mater, Ohio State, as an assistant.

Duwelius, in 11 seasons with the Lynx, rose from basketball operations coordinator to Cheryl Reeve’s chief consigliere. Last season, Duwelius — a savvy talent evaluator versed in analytics — helped Reeve craft a roster that came within a bucket of winning the club’s fifth WNBA championship. Smith’s ongoing work with Lynx guards and perimeter players was exemplary as well. 

The Lynx figured to lose Duwelius, a Des Moines, Iowa product, sooner or later; she’s that well regarded in the industry. Smith’s departure for Ohio State was a mild surprise given the six WNBA head coaching openings, but Smith wanted to go home. Born and raised in Ohio, Smith lives in Columbus with her wife and their two children.

“I have a seventh grader,” Smith told reporters in Columbus this week. “I have a freshman here at Ohio State. My parents are getting older. You can’t get these years back.”

Reeve committed to an all-woman coaching staff several years ago. This would be an ideal spot for Lynx great Lindsay Whalen if she wants to get back into coaching. If not, look for Reeve to hire someone she previously coached or worked with at USA Basketball. Replacing Duwelius’ straightforwardness and institutional knowledge will be hard, but Reeve’s track record of bringing in quality people is hard to beat. Connections matter there, too.

Pat Borzi

Pat Borzi is a contributing writer to MinnPost. Follow him on Twitter @BorzMN.

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